‘Under the Dome’ Falls Off in Second Week, Overtaken in Demo by Reality Veterans

'MasterChef,' 'Bachelorette' and 'Ninja Warrior' top it in 18-49

It can still make claim to being the summer’s top-rated scripted series, but CBS drama “Under the Dome” fell off in its second week back Monday and has clearly lost a lot of steam in its sophomore year. “Dome” was surpassed on the night in young adults by a veteran reality show on each of CBS’ rivals: Fox’s “MasterChef,” ABC’s “The Bachelorette” and NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior,” with “Ninja” beating it head-to-head.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “Under the Dome” averaged a series-low 1.7 rating/5 share in adults 18-49 and 7.7 million viewers overall in the 10 o’clock hour, down more than 15% in both categories from the show’s season premiere of last week; it remained the night’s most-watched program overall. A year ago, the second episode of “Dome” did a 2.9 demo rating and more than 11 million total viewers.

“Under the Dome” figures to leapfrog the reality shows and emerge as the No. 1 Monday program in 18-49 when DVR playback comes in.

It looked better in L3 numbers (which include three days’ worth of DVR playback) than the initially reported same-night ratings for the show’s second-season premiere last Monday. Thanks to larger time-shifted playback this year, the show’s decline from series premiere to season 2 premiere was trimmed from 34% in Live + Same-Day (2.1 vs. 3.2) to 26% in L3 (3.2 vs. 4.3), while in total viewers, a same-night decline of 30% was cut down to 21% in L3.

Leading into “Dome” on CBS were encores of comedies “2 Broke Girls” (1.0/4 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall), “Mom” (1.1/4 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall), “Mike & Molly” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 5.3 million viewers overall) and “Two and a Half Men” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall). A week ago, “Under the Dome” had a considerably stronger lead-in from a 9:30 p.m. repeat of “The Big Bang Theory,” which did a 1.8 demo rating.

Elsewhere Monday, Fox took the night in adults 18-49 behind “MasterChef” (1.9/7 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall), which matched last week’s season high and stood as the night’s No. 1 broadcast in adults 18-49 and 25-54 (2.5/7). It was followed by “24: Live Another Day” (1.5/5 in 18-49, 6.0 million viewers overall), which was also up a tenth and was the night’s No. 2 scripted series.

At NBC, “American Ninja Warrior” (1.8/5 in 18-49, 5.4 million viewers overall) came back strong following last week’s repeat, notching its top 18-49 rating since June 2 while hitting a season high for a regular telecast in total viewers (highest since a special “USA vs. Japan” telecast in January). “Ninja” grew with each half-hour from 9 to 11 p.m., winning head-to-head against “Under the Dome” in 18-49 (1.9 vs. 1.7) and all male demos.

The Peacock opened with an encore “Last Comic Standing” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall).

ABC’s “The Bachelorette” (1.8/6 in 18-49, 6.8 million viewers overall) rose two-tenths (13%) week to week, matching its summer high in the demo and edging out Fox’s combo of “MasterChef” and “24” to win the 8 to 10 p.m. window in 18-49. At 10 p.m., “Mistresses” lost two tenths (0.9/3 in 18-49, 3.7 million viewers overall), matching its season low.

And at CW, “Whose Line Is It Anyway” (0.5/2 in 18-49, 1.5 million viewers overall) remained solid. It held steady with last week, as did “Beauty and the Beast” (0.3/1 in 18-49, 0.9 million viewers overall), which was having its season finale.

Under The Dome was an awesome LIMITED series. The CBS got greedy(er) and ruined the whole thing. I stopped watching a week after they announced their asinine decision. Looks like viewers aren’t as stupid as Les & Co. think.

Under the Dumb wasn’t all that good last summer. The only reason it probably did well was a lot of people were under the impression it was going to be a limited run and put up with it just to see how it would end. I know, I was one of them. Then with those good numbers the network got a fat head and decided to stretch it out for another run. Good, I’m glad it’s getting bad numbers, now maybe they’ll wrap it up.